The urban planning certificate under the new Code — 5 types, new deadlines

The single, generic urban planning certificate (certificat de urbanism, CU) is gone. Law no. 169/2026 (the Code of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and Construction) introduces five distinct types, each with its own content and issuing deadline.

The 5 types

1. Urban planning certificate for information — general information on the legal, economic and technical status of the property, not tied to a specific purpose. Several certificates of this type can be issued for the same property, with identical content for all applicants.
2. Urban planning certificate for cadastral operations
3. Urban planning certificate for construction/demolition — buildings and landscaping works
4. Urban planning certificate for construction/demolition — engineering works
5. Urban planning certificate for special-purpose buildings — issued by institutions of the national defence, public order and national security system, based on a certificate for information previously issued by the local authority.

Issuing deadlines

Deadlines now depend on how digitalised the issuing authority is:

For public investment projects, the urban planning certificate can be valid for up to 60 months, depending on the complexity of the investment.

Mandatory content

The urban planning certificate must include:

• the legal status of the property (ownership, easements, inside/outside the built-up area, protected areas)
• the economic status (permitted/prohibited uses, tax rules)
• the technical status (plot coverage POT, floor area ratio CUT, minimum/maximum plot size, height limits, building line)
• information on the utility networks in the area, with an extract from the GIS system
• the location plan within the applicable urban planning documentation

Who issues the certificate

General rule: the local public authority that also issues building/demolition permits. Exceptions:

• urban planning certificates for special-purpose buildings — institutions of the defence system
• national transport infrastructure projects — the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure
• projects of common interest in the energy sector — the Ministry of Energy

What it means in practice

For a typical building permit design (house, extension, industrial hall), the certificate you need is the one “for construction/demolition — buildings and landscaping works”. The practical difference from the old system: the short deadlines (5-10 working days) only apply where the town hall has a working IT system — at small town halls without an operational digital platform, the fallback deadline of 10 working days applies, or the classic procedure until internal procedures are updated (legal deadline: 120 days from the publication of the Code).